Meet Aaron Fisher of Atlanta Rescue Dog Cafe in Reynoldstown

One of the things I realized was that despite so much good that’s been accomplished for Atlanta’s pets, the number of animals entering area shelters continues to increase, as does the incidence of animal cruelty. Few local rescue groups have the personnel to offer the educational resources to prevent animals from entering shelters in the first place. Simply put, we haven’t spayed/neutered, sheltered, rescued, or adopted our way out of the pet overpopulation and animal cruelty problems. We believe the solution to these issues is humane education, so we seek to address the root causes through innovative educational programs that focus on the critical aspects of prevention and healthy human-animal interactions. Our programming now reaches nearly 500 Atlanta students/month.

When I was teaching elementary school, I was avidly rock climbing and asked my local climbing gym for the rope that was being taken down from the rock walls. My students and I started making dog leashes from retired climbing rope, and in the process, we were learning how to measure, estimate, and subtract, and also writing letters in which we dedicated each leash to a special person or pet in our lives. In the process, my students were learning why we re-purpose, and how that affects the environment, as well as the importance of ensuring our pets are microchipped, wear collars with id’s, and how that can help prevent pets from entering our area’s overcrowded shelters. We then donated the leashes to the local shelter for the volunteers to use when walking the dogs.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We’ve been incredibly fortunate to enjoy the support of the Atlanta community (and beyond) during our first year in existence. That said, as a humane education nonprofit that’s encouraging a different way to think about rescue, and trying to address the root causes of why pets enter shelters in the first place and what we can do about it – through education and community outreach – we definitely face our share of challenges.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Atlanta Rescue Dog Cafe – what should we know?
We are, at the very core, an educational non-profit dedicated to the well-being of the community’s pets and its people. Our Mission: to work with Atlanta’s communities to solve the problems of pet overpopulation and animal cruelty. We achieve this by offering programs emphasizing: empathy, kindness, responsibility, and education. Our goal is to reach as many Atlanta residents (especially students) as possible.

We offer a wide range of programming that is grade and age-level appropriate, and we have worked with students as young as three years old (in pre-k) all the way up to seniors in assisted living facilities (we even bring certified therapy dogs to our programs through our collaboration with Pet Partners).